BEFORE HE DIED LAST year at age 99, a friend asked Charlie Munger if he planned to leave his considerable wealth to his children. Wouldn’t it impact their work ethic, his friend asked?
“Of course, it will,” Munger replied. “But you still have to do it.”
“Why?” his friend asked.
“Because if you don’t give them the money, they’ll hate you.”
Few of us are billionaires. Still, I find Munger’s comment instructive. It illustrates a reality about personal finance: that the notion of a perfectly optimal answer to any financial question is just that—a notion.

I was making a payment on Zelle recently which our landlord requires us to use to pay our rent. I had completed the process when I suddenly got an alert that I needed to make the payment again as they were having technical problems. This was a red flag to me so I did not make another payment.
I then looked at our checking account online and saw that my payment had been deducted. I also got a text confirmation from the bank.

This has nothing to do with HD finances, but much to do with HD living.
Every six months or so we see newspaper or online articles questioning the value of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Some argue that it should never be implemented, while others say it should be permanent, with no changes. Others like it the way it is.
Before I retired, DST really had a minimal impact on me. Except for a short stint on a construction site,

WHEN HANNAH AND HENRY were children, I talked a lot about money. This was partly self-preservation: It would have been embarrassing if the kids of a personal-finance columnist grew up to be financial ne’er-do-wells.
Fortunately, they didn’t. Hannah and Henry are now in their 30s. Both have good financial habits, and today I typically don’t talk to them about money except when they have questions. Still, given my cancer diagnosis, perhaps a few final reminders are in order—13,

Mine are:
1) John Bogle- founder of Vanguard
When I was beginning my investing journey I discovered this icon. His sage advice such as costs matter, and most investors can’t beat the market so just use index funds led me to financial independence and a comfortable retirement. Also there is most likely no individual who has saved individual investors more money saving because of his push to lower  investment fees.
2) Christine Benz- Personal investment author at Morningstar
When I read her articles on bucket portfolios,

A 10 dollar investment in Berkshire-Hathaway in 1965 would now be worth about $ 500,000 large. Not bad. Or, to quote the late Bob Newhart, ” Oh boy.” ( no exclamation point)
A very financially unsophisticated  woman in New York worked for the same company for 67 years, never earning very high salaries, and when she passed away a few years ago, she had a net worth of almost ten million dollars. Long Term Capital Management had tremendous computers,

Who knew dividend-paying stocks were so controversial? Some view them as a great way to generate retirement income and lower a portfolio’s risk level, while others shun such stocks as tax-inefficient and dismiss their owners as irrational.
But wherever you stand on this issue, keep a key notion in mind: At some point in their life, we need publicly traded companies to start returning cash to shareholders—or there’s a risk they’ll disappear without creating any wealth for investors over their lifetime.

Please, why would anybody buy any actively traded fund, especially in the large market cap category and especially in conventional accounts? As a whole, every investor , large and small, must collectively earn less than the market’s return.  For every buyer there is a seller, of course, and once bid-ask spreads, fees, etc., are factored in, there has to be a slight loss.

Also,  the active funds, due to the frequent trading , often have returns that are often  30,

I’ve always been a growth investor. But as retirement nears I’ve been questioning whether it is better to stay investing for growth and sell some of it monthly for income or to invest in dividend paying stocks or stock funds for income.
Which is a better path to take and why? Thank you all as always for your input

I recently listened to a podcast discussing “longevity income” ETFs from an outfit called LifeX. It appears that the money is invested in treasuries, and the fund returns both interest and a portion of capital each month, with the expectation of exhausting the fund by a target date. It seems to be intended as an alternative to a TIPS or bond ladder, but costs 50 basis points initially and carries no guarantee.
I’d appreciate others’ views on this.

I view it a matter of when, not if, large companies will be hacked. A list of breaches from this year alone  shows hacks at Truist, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America. I don’t think the likes of Vanguard, Fidelty or Swchab are immune. And while I practice reasonable infosec hygene (2FA wherever possible, etc) I KNOW I’m not immune: the computers, smartphones, etc that I use to manage my accounts can be hacked.
That said,

I DON’T LIKE SPENDING, though the older I get, the more I loosen the purse strings. Still, I rarely enjoy spending money. I think I got this from my mother and grandparents.

My grandparents reused Christmas tree tinsel year after year. My grandfather removed every strand—made of metal back then—and placed it in a box for the following year. My grandparents also had two sets of rugs, one for winter and the other—made of woven rattan—for summer.

The obvious answer is that it depends on your financial situation, age, net worth and risk tolerance. I am trying to decide on the right amount of cash I should hold.
I found this through internet search on this topic:

“According to the U.S. Trust Survey of Affluent Americans, investors with over $3 million in investable assets typically hold around 15% of their portfolios in cash and cash equivalents. However, the amount of cash an investor holds can vary depending on their age and net worth:

As we all know, the Social Security trust is being depleted. The most often year mentioned is 2033, but that could change. The reduction in current benefits is projected at 21% – a hefty cut for most people, especially those relying heavily or totally on Social Security income.
Why are we in this mess? Simply because funding of Social Security has been inadequate for many years and for just as long one Congress after another has ignored the trustees pleas to take action sooner rather than later.

AUTO INSURANCE HAS been getting more and more expensive in recent years. There are many reasons: New cars cost more, extreme weather, folks seem to be suing more often, and so on.
Our daughter Brenda called me, asking if I could look over her auto policy to see if there was a way to lower her premiums. We have our car insurance with the same company. On the company’s website, I came across something called “Safe Pilot.” Many insurers have similar programs.